Should low-speed vehicles be allowed on roads? Group calls for limits

Low-speed vehicles, powered by electricity, are gaining popularity in the United States, but an insurance group is calling for more restrictions on where they can travel, reports USA TODAY colleague Larry Copeland.

These vehicles have caught on as as an inexpensive, eco-friendly alternative to gas-powered cars, the story says, noting that 46 states allow them on public roads -- up from about a dozen eight years ago. They travel 20-25 mph and are usually restricted to roads with a maximum speed limit of 35 mph.

In a report today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says the vehicles aren't crashworthy enough to be on the road with larger, faster vehicles.

"These vehicles are fuel-efficient and cheap to own but aren't built to protect people in crashes," says the report, which calls them "souped-up golf carts." It says new institute crash tests show the "deadly consequences" of mixing them with regular traffic.

The story says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) established safety standards in 1998. The agency require them to have head-, tail- and brake lights, turn signals, reflectors, parking brakes, rear view mirrors, windshields and seat belts, according to the story, but it does not reqiure airbags. The story adds:

There were about 45,000 low-speed vehicles in the USA in 2008, according to the Energy Department. Connecticut, Mississippi, Montana and Pennsylvania have no state laws governing them, the IIHS says.

GEM, the world's largest producer of low-speed vehicles, is a subsidiary of Chrysler Group. The Smart Fortwo, a rear-engine two-seater built by a subsidiary of Daimler, is the nation's smallest passenger vehicle that meets federal crashworthiness standards. The IIHS tested both and says, "Test dummies in the GEMs … recorded indications of seriously debilitating or fatal injury to drivers in real-world crashes. In contrast, the Smart performed well."

Chrysler Group responds, "GEM vehicles offer customers an inexpensive, clean solution for low-speed environments and comply with (the NHTSA's) standards for low-speed vehicles, which limit the maximum speed of the vehicle to 25 mph."

"It's a grave generalization to say that all LSVs are simply souped-up golf carts," says Mike McQuary, CEO of Atlanta-based Wheego Electric Cars, which manufactures the Whip LSV. "The Wheego Whip … is a full-functioning, steel unibody automobile that certainly nobody would ever mistake for a golf cart."

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